Longitudinal Gouge Variations

Most modern bassoon and oboe cane is gouged so that the thickness is uniform along the entire length of the cane. That is, if the centerline of a piece of cane is 1.25mm thick at one end, this 1.25mm thickness remains constant along the entire piece.

We are able to achieve this uniformity thanks to an innovative French oboist called Henri Brod (1799-1839). M. Brod not only built oboes, but also invented the modern gouging machine. His machine radically simplified the gouging process, which until then had to be done with hand tools. But his machine also changed the result, introducing uniform end-to-end thickness. Before M. Brod’s machine came along, cane was almost always gouged by hand, with a longitudinal taper. That is, the thickness tapered from each end towards the middle (where the cane is folded to make a blank). For example, if the ends of a piece of cane were 1.25mm thick, the middle might be only 1.00mm.

Lou Skinner learned, largely by analyzing reeds made by famous 20th-century German reedmakers, that many of these makers were nonetheless gouging their cane with longitudinal tapers. Lou liked the results, and enthusiastically adopted the “inside taper” technique, experimenting with countless variations. Lou used hand-scrapers to make the longitudinal tapers onto cane that had been gouged with a machine, but today at least one tool manufacturer has produced a gouging machine than can be modified for use as a secondary machine, after the regular gouging machine, to produce this result.

For more detail about Lou’s “Darmstadt” Model reed, made with a longitudinal-taper gouge, click on the button below.

Henri Brod’s Invention

From the collection of the Musical Instruments Museum at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel. Click here for the catalogue entry, which contains much interesting information.